A network administrator may need to prevent users from having their credentials validated by a specific domain controller for maintenance or troubleshooting purposes. This article describes how to prevent user logon validation from a single server.

Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Services.

Click the Net Logon service, click Pause, and then click Yes.

To reset the Net Logon service on a domain controller that is paused:

Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Services.

Click the Net Logon service, and then click Continue.

Pausing the Net Logon service does not disconnect any existing sessions, but prevents any other users from logging on and establishing a new connection. Pausing the service after the computer has started allows a backup domain controller (BDC) to set up a secure channel with the primary domain controller (PDC) to receive updates to the accounts database.

When you connect to shares on a BDC with a paused Net Logon service, validation is carried out locally at the BDC, not forwarded to another domain controller or the PDC. This applies only to the validation of users who are gaining direct access to resources on a BDC with a paused Net Logon service. The main objective of reducing the load on the BDC is met because the workstations and other member servers cannot set up a secure channel with the BDC. If you stop the Net Logon service instead of pausing it, the BDC does not receive updates from the PDC. In this case, a user could be denied access to a local share with a valid password after a password change has occurred.

You cannot set the Net Logon service to pause at startup. The service must run long enough to establish a secure channel with the PDC. You can automate this activity using the AT Scheduler tool to run a net pause netlogon command after the computer has started. You can also create a batch file to run the same command in a loop combined with the Sleep tool from the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit to set the delay between intervals.

For information about using the AT Scheduler tool, click Start, click Help, click the Index tab, type at, and then click Display.